Starpharma lifts on condom approval

SHARES in biotech Starpharma Holdings have jumped more than six per cent after a specially-coated anti-viral and anti-bacterial condom is approved for marketing in Japan.

Japan is the world's second largest condom market, worth around $US500 million ($A555.71 million).

The condom is coated with Starpharma's lead product, VivaGel, which, in laboratory studies, has been shown to kill HIV, human papillomavirus and the genital herpes virus.

Starpharma has licensed VivaGel to Okamoto Industries as a condom coating for the Japanese market, in which Okamoto holds about a 60 per cent share.

On Friday, Starpharma said regulatory certification had been granted for marketing the specially-coated condom in Japan.

"This receipt of the world's first marketing approval for a VivaGel-coated condom in Japan marks a major milestone for this product and for our strategically important partnership with Okamoto," Starpharma chief executive Dr Jackie Fairley said in a statement.

Starpharma will receive royalties based on the sale of the VivaGel-coated condoms.

The company has a separate licensing deal giving Australia's Ansell marketing rights to VivaGel-coated condoms in countries other than Japan.

Starpharma shares were four cents, or 5.48 per cent, higher at 77 cents at 1146 AEDT.